Agent Carter gets a job offer.
The various S.H.I.E.L.D. 50th Anniversary one-shots may be aimed at celebrating the long history of this super-spy organization, but they’ve also been not-so-subtly targeting fans of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV series with their character inclusions and storytelling choices. Not that this is inherently a bad thing. The idea of the Agent Carter one-shot teaming Miss Carter with the one and only Lady Sif is actually pretty appealing (and something that would make for a great Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D./Agent Carter crossover someday). Unfortunately, this issue doesn’t wind up using this novel team-up to very good effect.
The bland story is all the more puzzling considering that this issue reunited the Operation: S.I.N. creative team of writer Kathryn Immonen and artist Rich Ellis. The book starts out well enough, with Peggy and Dum Dum Dugan butting heads and the latter attempting to recruit the former into full-time S.H.I.E.L.D. service. But after Sif enters the fray and the actual conflict begins, the story begins losing steam. Despite the characters being in mortal danger, there’s not a real sense of investment in the conflict. It’s not entirely clear why Sif actually needs to be in the story in the first place. This is only exacerbated by the story’s resolution, which makes the whole thing come across as a pointlessly loud exercise.
Ellis’ art at least keeps the book looking lively even when the story drags. His laid back style and character designs give the book a certain lighthearted charm that evokes the pre-Steranko era of S.H.I.E.L.D. Ellis doesn’t merely regurgitate his work on Operation S.I.N., but takes pains to depict Peggy as an older, somewhat more weary soldier dealing with an increasingly strange world.
There was a lot of potential in the idea of Peggy being courted by SHIELD and forming a bond with an Asgardian goddess. Perhaps the problem is that one issue isn’t really enough to do that story justice.
It’s always nice to see Peggy Carter given the spotlight in Marvel’s comics, but this issue didn’t do much to further her story or take advantage of the team-up with Lady Sif. The underwhelming conflict, and especially its poor resolution, take the wind out of this book’s sails.
